Cowboys win three of four duals over weekend

MEEKER I The Cowboy wrestling team defeated Moffat County in its first home dual of the season last Friday, then won two of three duals in Coal Ridge Saturday last. The Cowboys will host Battle Mountain, Hayden, Soroco and Rangely this Saturday starting at noon.
“It was fun to get a win in front of the hometown crowd,” head coach J.C. Watt said of the 43-24 victory over the Moffat County Bulldogs. Meeker won five of eight matches wrestled.
“The kids wrestled really well and J.C. Henderson and J.R. Crawford really stepped up and wrestled well,” Watt said.
Henderson defeated Shandon Hadley 17-3 at 132 and Crawford pinned Jesse Demoor in the second period. Kylloe Goedert also won his match 10-4 at 120, while Lathrop Hughes (170) and Noah Overton (220) pinned their Bulldog opponents.
“Saturday we wrestled a tough Rifle team and lost (24-46), then beat Coal Ridge (51-24) and Basalt (47-16),” Watt said.
Devon Pontine (152), Hughes and Overton were the only Cowboys to win against Rifle and all three won by pinning their opponents. Only six matches were wrestled against the host team and Meeker won five of them. Henderson, Hughes, Crawford and Overton all won by pin fall and Anthony Watt (138) won a close 4-3 decision.
The Cowboys wrestled seven matches against the Basalt Longhorns and won four of them. Henderson won a 2-1 decision at 132, Watt won by technical fall (16-0), Hughes pinned and Goedert won a 9-2 decision.
“Lathrop was the only one to win all four of his matches,” Watt said of the senior who wrestled both 160 and 170, as needed.
The Cowboys will wrestle in Paonia this Friday, following the boys’ and girls’ basketball games, then host dual meets Saturday in their final matches of the regular season.
“We were happy with the large turnout for the Moffat County dual and fans can expect to see some good matches this Saturday,” Watt said. “We appreciate the support.”